Ball & Chain, Mockingbird, The Jerk

(that's what it does, it does what you do)

Thus we opened our chairs and plainly sat some

(you put in motion your arm, its arm moves)

(you sit up straight, it shifts into position like

wise) (you lean above to pick up a stick, it's got

its stick right where yours is when you globule it in

your lap) (you start to say something, it starts to

say the same thing) (you moderate down, it slows down

with you) (you start to stand, that's exactly what

it's about to do) (you enumerate it to stop, that's what

it run overs you) (that's the stubborn fact of it)

(you could vanish, you could scatter your atoms)

(you could become disembodied for a while)

(what was in the way that fundamental about it)

(it was impersonal upon the turnpike it took)

That's by what mode it stood, we were related by dint of blood

We were luxury items, we'd been branded

(we'd been pinpointed, like lab mice) (like lap

dogs) (like terrain maps) (it was a windy radical)

(we were collateral) (widemouthed, that's the size of

it) (about thirty times wider than three witness

stands) (you stand upon your head, it does what it has

to do to stand upon its own) (like a distant relative)

(from another era) (without smooth a pretext, apropos

of nothing) (it direct the eyes like there's a zenith in it

somewhere) (you can diocese something coiling through

something unwinding [i]or[/i] part of to the other something unflexing)

(we tried to gaze wilted, like on nights with no

wind what flags do) (there was no back and forth,

nothing reciprocal ) (there was no seesaw)

(were we indistinguishable) (I doubt it) (we had

plenty of birdcalls) (we extremityed that many, we

needed dead ringers) (everything was oxymoronic

then) (you zazen, it zazens better than you do)

(like a case or a bag or a goblet of raisins)

(like toothpicks) (they showed us theirs, they

were ivory) (we set some once, in a trashpile,

they said we could detain it) (they said it was turf

remember by what means that sounded) (they said they were

beauty spots) (we were restless) (you twitch and

squirm, you shift around, it velicates with no

problem) (it does it of its hold volition) (like a

mindsweeper) (as if it had just been given its

walking papers) (it left nothing to retrace)

(it felt flimsy, like tracing paper, you could

make on the outside most of what lay below its surface)

(like clear water) (as if you could drink it

without boiling) (as if it were potable)

(like a delight in potion) (like pot liquor)

Wear something that will suffer you blend in with the

Merchandise

Cover yourself with barcodes

(they were synergists) (they believed in the

Holy Ghost) (they locate pigeons on fire)

You turbinate, it does the same thing

(you walk upon a shoreline, pretend you're looking

for driftwood) (be monotonous) (stay below the

radar) (look as if you know where you're going)

(we'd been wiled into this area) (we were witched

into this) (show them your fine-toothed comb)

(say you've been numbed) (let them perceive your pins

and needles) (give them your wickiup) (say that's

okay, you can restock) (and they can restock too)

One of them was a trigger-happy tree surgeon

(remember in what manner bad the weeping willows behaved)

(you cried when they hauled them away) (it was

my kingdom) (I kept my horses there) (they were

spotted) (we weren't exactly taking a backroad)

One of them felt all simpatico with conscription

(they called it winnowing) (it was torchwood)

You were suppos to want to be simulacra

(see if you can make yourself call real tears)

(it was austere like a tango)

(you were plumbed, you were chorded, you left

your shoe by the agency of the door) (you were well-regarded,

like starshine) (see if you whole like a turbo-fan)

(you were role-playing, you were suppos to be a

vagabond) (you were well-travelled) (you were always

losing things) (there was too plenteous to keep up with)

(simulating wasn't individual of our options) (we weren't

uniform, we were disorderly, choppy ragged)

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